


It's My Job

by zahnie



Series: The Vampire Job(s) [1]
Category: Angel: the Series, Leverage
Genre: Alternate Universe - Twins, Canon-Typical Violence, Crossover, Eliot Knows About Vampires, Everybody Lives, Ghost Spike, Multi, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-06
Updated: 2015-10-06
Packaged: 2018-04-23 19:14:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4888774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zahnie/pseuds/zahnie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Should have been prepared for this. Damn it, Har-</i>
  <br/>
  <i>He pushes the thought away viciously. This isn’t a normal job. This is an emergency.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's My Job

**Author's Note:**

> This is much longer than I thought it would be.
> 
> Set in the first few episode of Angel Season 5, before Episode 4 ("Hell Bound"). Ghost!Spike is the best Spike and I really liked Angel season 5 (ngl, the complete erasure of season 4 helped A LOT with that) right up until That Thing That Happened. You almost certainly know what I mean. If I ever write straight-up Angel fanfic (unlikely), it will be to Fix That because dear God, so awful.
> 
> Of course, all of Leverage is sunshine and rainbows and OT3 love. Set sometime in Season 4, after Episode 10 ("The Queen's Gambit Job").
> 
> Proud of my CANON solution. My canon solution from Angel Season 1, I might add. Why does it never show up again? Would be so helpful.

“Angel?”

Angel looks up from the pile of infuriating reports on his desk, happy to be interrupted. “What is it, Gunn?"

Charles Gunn doesn’t move from the doorway. “Security just got a ping off the facial recognition. Old ‘friend’ in the lobby.”

Angel stands up. “Who?”

“Lindsey McDonald,” Gunn smiles grimly.  “Wanna go roll out the red carpet?”

Angel grabs the axe off the wall to his left. “Let’s go.” He tosses the axe to Gunn who catches it easily.

“If this suit gets ruined by Lindsey gunk, I’m gonna be seriously displeased,” Gunn says as they stride over to the elevator.

“Have you used the in-house dry cleaners yet? Great with those tough viscera stains,” Angel says pleasantly.

***

Eliot wasn’t in a good mood, even before arguing with the lobby receptionist. “How many times do I haveta say it? _I’m_ not Lindsey McDonald, I’m here to _see_ Lindsey McDonald!”

He almost wishes he’d tried a grift first but there is no time. Besides, they started calling him ‘Mr. McDonald’ before Eliot even opened his mouth. Should have been prepared for this. Damn it, Har-

He pushes the thought away viciously. This isn’t a normal job. This is an emergency.

“Mr. McDonald, as you know, the scanners take DNA samples, check for spiritual possession and illusions as well as performing facial recognition.” She tilts her head to one side. “Unless you have mystical amnesia? That could explain…” The receptionist scans Eliot up and down pointedly.

He just barely stops himself from scowling at her. He’s in a red shirt, his favourite jeans, and an old jacket. Dressed for the con, not for a fancy law firm, where even the mail room has a dress code.

“Could you please tell me the last time I was here, then?” he asks, forcing himself to smile at her. But his effort is wasted because her attention isn’t on him anymore.

Eliot looks up to see an elevator opening across the lobby. Two men walk out, one black, one white, both wearing suits. The black man carries an axe.

“Lindsey,” the white man says, “I thought I told you never to come back to my city.”

Eliot turns and runs. He almost makes it to the door before three security guards intercept him. He hits the first with a forearm to the throat and all his forward momentum. The second gets two quick punches to the ribs that drop him to the floor. Eliot is whirling to deal with the last guard when a very cold hand closes around his throat. He’s lifted off the ground, choking, trying to pull the fingers apart. The guy has a grip like iron and all at once, Eliot _knows_. He snarls and pulls a stake out of his jacket pocket.

“Angel, watch out!” The axe man is running forward.

Eliot stares at the vampire holding him off the ground so casually. Dark hair, overhanging brow, brown eyes, square jaw—the description fits.  He drops the stake. It clatters on the lobby tiles. Eliot tries to smile and gasps, “Linds warned me about you.”

His voice is barely audible but the vampire hears him just fine. Angel stares back at Eliot. “Who are you?”

“What do you mean? It’s obviously Lindsey.” The axe man stands beside Angel. “With longer hair and a serious wardrobe downgrade.”

Angel lowers Eliot to the floor and shifts his grip from Eliot’s throat to his upper arm. Eliot coughs, breathes deeply. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees more security guards rushing over.

“Who are you?” Angel asks again.

“Somebody,” Eliot wheezes, “who needs your help.”

That’s what Lindsey told him to say, if he was ever unlucky enough to run into Angel. “He’ll do almost anything for a stranger with a sob story.” Linds was bitter about that, Eliot remembers.

And if Lindsey isn’t here, then Eliot is back to square one anyway so he really does need help.

“ _My_ help?” Angel sounds completely surprised.

“Yeah. You still help people, right?” It comes out sharp but Eliot doesn’t really have time for finesse.

“Angel, I don’t think-”

Angel interrupts him. “Fine. Gunn, ask everyone to come to my office.”

“But don’t the Senior Partners have a hit out on this guy?” Gunn asks.

Eliot goes cold. He hasn’t heard from Lindsey in a long time and this is probably the reason why.

“He isn’t Lindsey, he just looks like him.” Angel is already pulling Eliot towards the elevator. Eliot lets him do it.

Gunn gets in the elevator with them. “So, what, are you a doppelganger? Clone? Evil twin?”

“Last one,” Eliot says, shrugging out of Angel’s loosened grip.

Gunn’s eyes widen. “You’re _Lindsey’s_ evil twin? I’m gonna need another axe. And maybe one of Fred’s flamethrowers.”

***

There are five of them, just like Eliot’s team. Gunn and Angel are hitters, no question. He isn’t sure about the rest of them.

Eliot is sitting at a big conference table. Everyone else is standing, all far away from him. Except Angel who is looming beside him.

“I didn’t know Lindsey had a twin,” the man in glasses says mildly. He has an English accent.

The only woman looks uncertainly from him to Eliot. “Who’s Lindsey? I think he’s from before my time.”

Eliot gives her a quick smile. “Hi, Texas, right? I’m Eliot.” He should give a fake name but he’s heard that vampires can smell lies.

She smiles back. “Yeah! Hi, I’m Fred. Winifred Burkle, head of the science division.” She steps forward like she’s going to shake his hand but stops. “He doesn’t seem very evil.”

“He took out two security guards and almost staked Angel before I could run across the lobby,” Gunn says.

Eliot crosses his arms and shrugs.

“Darling, I really must dash. Ciao.” The guy in the eyewateringly blue suit tucks his phone away and turns to the group. Eliot flinches. He has green skin and small red horns.

“Well, isn’t _that_ a fine hello from the brother of one of my best customers,” the green demon pouts.

“Lorne, if you wouldn’t mind,” Angel says.

The demon sighs and sits down, with a buffer chair between them. “Hum a few bars for me, muffin.” Lorne is gazing at Eliot with eyes that are both red and red-rimmed.

“Why?” Eliot asks.

The demon starts to speak but Angel interrupts. “To prove you’re serious.”

The only tune in his head is from one of Hardison’s dumb mixes. Since it seems like his only option, Eliot hums a bit of it. Lorne’s eyes widen and he clutches his forehead with one hand.

“Lorne?” Fred sounds worried.

“I’m good, sugar. Just… he’s really upset.”

Everybody stares at Eliot.

“Huh,” Gunn says.

“Why is he upset?” Angel asks Lorne.

“Because my team got ambushed by vampires,” Eliot snaps.

Everyone except Lorne straightens up. Gunn unfolds his arms and stops leaning on the wall. “If you need help cleaning out the nest-”

Eliot shakes his head, keeping his own arms firmly crossed. “I contacted the Slayer Army already. They’ll take care of it.”

“I’m sorry, the what army?” The English man, the only one Eliot doesn’t have a name for, sounds almost shocked.

Eliot glares at him. “Slayer Army. Group of women who kill vampires. Though I hear they branch out.” He’d given them a big donation a few months ago in order to get on the ‘affected areas’ mailing list. Not that it helped this time. Los Angeles is almost as bad as Cleveland for supernatural activity.

Angel waves impatiently. “Later. Why do you need our help?”

“Because one of my team got bit and I need the cure.”

“Are you sure they’ve been turned?”

“I’m sure.”

Gunn leans on the table in front of Eliot. “There isn’t a ‘cure’ for being a vampire.”

“How long?” Angel asks.

“Dusk, so an hour or so. Had to get them back to the hotel and then get here.”

“It might be possible,” Fred says. “If he hasn’t risen yet, I mean.” She turns to the Englishman. “Right, Wesley? The vampire-part doesn’t gain control until then?”

Wesley adjusts his glasses. “I honestly don’t know. The Watcher’s Council had no policy on curing vampires.”

Gunn slams his fist on the table. “Someone gets turned, they’re dead. Sometimes their body walks around after but they’re dead!”

“Charles,” Wesley starts but Gunn is already walking away.

“Do this one without me,” he calls over his shoulder. “There’s nothing to hit and no legal precedent to find so I’m useless.” He slams the office door open and is gone.

“Let’s get to work,” Angel says. “Time is short.”

***

Parker isn’t crying. She’s crawling through an air duct. If you cry in air ducts, they hear the echoes and then you have to dodge security guards who shouldn’t even know you’re there.

Rooftops though. Rooftops are good for crying. Later. Maybe.

Eliot wasn’t crying. He has a Plan and he didn’t tell Parker what it is. She already knows it’s super dangerous because Eliot went off alone. He had the ‘not on my watch’ face and you have to keep an eye on him when that happens.

She’s already on her backup backup idea and it isn’t going great. Her first one was to stop Eliot and make him tell her what’s going on. But he was already gone in the rental car by the time Parker had boosted a car of her own. In the end, she’d only managed to follow Eliot because of the GPS tracker Hardison put on his favourite jacket. Hardison had just told Parker about the new tracker that morning so Eliot hadn’t had a chance to find it yet.

She stops crawling and closes her eyes. She isn’t going to cry. No.

Her backup idea had been to go in with Eliot wherever he was going and that hadn’t worked either. She’d seen him getting choked in the lobby through the glass wall. When they took Eliot to the elevator, he hadn’t fought them so he must want to be inside. When Parker went in a count of ten later, a couple of breezy questions to the receptionist gave her Eliot’s alias and who he was with. She would have tried to follow him that way but she was wearing her thief clothes and so had no chance of blending in with the corporate crowd.

Air ducts are almost always better than hallways. No doors blocking them, once you’re in, and nobody seeing you. She came in underground, into the basement level ducts. It was almost too easy.

The only way that ducts aren’t the best is that they need prep and Parker hadn’t done any. She doesn’t even have her climbing gear.

She finds a grill and peers out of it. Another boring, deserted hallway. An empty office would be more discrete but also might have motion sensors.

Parker grips the grill with one hand while she pushes on it. It’s the kind with hinges. Perfect.

It’s only an eight foot drop so Parker pushes off the sides of the opening with her hands and flips forward. She lands on the floor in a crouch.

Applause from her left surprises her. “Oh, bravo. Very well done.”

Parker turns slowly and sees a pale man with a long black coat and bleached blond hair. He has an English accent but it doesn’t sound like Sophie’s.

“I don’t know what you think’s worth taking down here but nice technique anyway.” He grins at her. “That won’t work on me, by the way.”

Parker stares at him, weapon in hand.

“There’s some perks to being incorporeal anyway. And one of them is being immune to… what is that, a taser? Fancy.”

“You’re a ghost?” Parker asks.

“No, I’m a vampire,” the man corrects her. “N-Whoa!”

Parker lunges forward as soon as he says ‘vampire’ and punches right through his head. The man dissolves into a cloud of white mist. Alarmed, Parker jumps back.

The mist slowly reshapes into the man’s outline. His features slowly reappear and darken until he looks solid again. “Bloody hell!” the vampire-ghost shouts. “I hate it when that happens.”

Parker backs up a step, then turns and runs down the hallway.

He calls after her, “Wait! Don’t run off! I won’t bite you, promise!”

Parker turns the corner at a fast sprint and almost runs through the vampire-ghost as he appears in front of her. “Not that I can bite anybody so it’s an easy promise to keep,” he says, casually.

Parker scowls, annoyed. “Well, go haunt some other hallway. I’m busy!”

“But this one’s my favourite,” the vampire-ghost says sarcastically. “Why _are_ you here anyway?”

“Why would I tell you? Parker snaps.

He puts up his hands. “Well, excuse a fellow for being interested.”

Parker rolls her eyes and starts to step around him. He matches her movements, like they’re dancing.

“Name’s William the Bloody. But you can call me Spike.” He grins at her.

Parker glares. “I don’t want to call you anything.”

“Cheers,” Spike says. He raises an imaginary drink to her.

Parker pushes her hands through his chest, making him dissolve into white mist again. While he’s pulling himself back together, she continues down the hallway.

Spike follows, spluttering. “Stop doing that! I can’t hurt you anyway.”

Parker doesn’t answer him, just keeps walking.

Spike sighs heavily. “Look, I’m bloody sorry for frightening you. Alright?”

Parker doesn’t look at him. She’s busy wondering why all the walls are blank. There should at least be a fire exit map _somewhere_. All the doors look the same too, smooth greyish-green with no labels.

“At least tell me your name.” Spike sounds almost pleading now.

“Why?” Parker asks.

“So I know what to call you? Listen, if I help you out of the maze, will you tell me your name?”

Parker stops walking. “What maze?”

“The one we are in, at this very moment. Look.” Spike points at an air duct grill hanging down from its hinges. “Back where we started. But you only turned one corner.”

“That’s not a maze, that’s a loop.” Parker stares at the grill. A hallway circle that she couldn’t detect is almost as strange as a vampire-ghost. This building is weird.

Spike shrugs. “Sure. Want help getting out?”

“Alice White,” Parker answers.

“Then let’s go, hero of Wonderland.” Spike walks purposefully toward one of the identical doors and floats right through it. Then he pops his head out. “Oh. Doors.”

Parker looks at the lock and scoffs. She takes her picks out, and has the door unlocked and swinging open almost before Spike can pull his head back.

“Right. Doors, not a problem.” They are in a stairwell and his voice echoes eerily.

Parker shushes him. “Up or down?” she whispers.

“Up,” Spike says.

They ascend the stairs in silence.

Parker keeps catching herself listening for her team, even though she’s not wearing her earbud. Sophie sighing, Eliot’s steady breathing, Nate telling everyone the next move. Hardison.

Hardison explaining his newest feat of hacking genius. Hardison making a reference she doesn’t get. Hardison complaining.

“So, Alice, you… are you crying?” Spike stops climbing.

Parker swipes her eyes with her hand impatiently. “No,” she says, not slowing down.

Spike starts moving again. “Why the sudden interest in Wolfram & Hart, anyway? Somebody with your skills must have better things to do than sneak around near a bunch of evil lawyers.” His eyes light up. “Don’t tell me you’re a new Slayer, here to stick it to the big bad Angelus?”

“What’s a Slayer?”

Spike sighs heavily. “Too much to hope for. Through here.” He gestures at the door at the top of the next flight of stairs. It isn’t even locked.

They walk down another deserted hallway. The doors are different colours and the lighting is better, so Parker doesn’t think it’s another loop.

She gets an idea. “You know a lot about vampires, right?”

Spike snorts. “I’ve only _been_ one for a few hundred years. Killed my share too, now that I’m all soul-having.” He looks down at himself. “Looks like the soul is all that’s left now.”

“What happens when vampires bite humans?” Parker knows that’s the wrong question but she isn’t sure what the right one is.

Spike looks at her sideways. “They die. Or they recover, if they get to hospital in time. Or they get turned, if they drink vampire blood after they’re drained. But mostly they just die.”

Parker remembers what Hardison looked like when they found him. She remembers Eliot swaying beside her, remembers falling to her knees and checking for a pulse over and over until Eliot finally pulled her away. He brought Hardison’s body back to the hotel with them. She remembers too, that Hardison had blood on his mouth.

She knows why Eliot came here.

“How do you keep someone who’s been bitten from turning into a vampire?” she asks.

Spike shrugs. “Kill them.”

“Wrong answer,” Parker says firmly.

“I don’t…wait, _that’s_ why you broke into Wolfram  & Hart? To find out how to un-vamp somebody?” Spike is staring at her.

Parker doesn’t look at him. “So?”

“Well, if there’s a different answer anywhere here, it’s in Files and Records. I’ll show you, it’s not far.” Spike floats through another door and Parker picks another lock.

“Why are you helping me?” she asks Spike.

“I’m bored.” He grins. “And you remind me of someone, Goldilocks.”

***

Files and Records is a small room with a desk. The woman sitting behind it smiles at Parker and Spike as they come in. “Hello. You should use the company keycard instead of picking the lock.”

She doesn’t seem angry so Parker just says, “I’ll remember that for next time.” She smiles back at the woman, giving her the ‘political campaign coordinator’ one with extra force. “I’m new, just started working for Angel. I came to find out about vampires?” She gives a little laugh, like Sophie taught her. “I’m pretty new to the supernatural lifestyle.”

Spike stares at her, mouth open. Parker only doesn’t kick him because he wouldn’t feel it.

The woman doesn’t seem to notice. “Vampires in general or Angel in particular?”

“Oh, let’s start with general vampire information,” Parker says, smiling again.

Behind the woman, panels of lights flare on. A very very long hallway, lined with the same kind of filing cabinets, stretch into the distance. “Here is our general information on vampires, cross-referenced with individual records.”

Spike whistles.

Parker blinks at the hallway. There is enough material there to search for weeks, if not years. “Maybe not that general,” she says.

The woman doesn’t say anything, just smiles at Parker.

Suddenly, there is a beep and the door behind them opens. She and Spike turn.

A man with glasses and tousled brown hair walks in. His eyes narrow when he sees them.

“Hello, Wesley Wyndam Pryce,” the woman says pleasantly.

Wesley nods to her and glares at Spike. “Spike, what are you doing here?”

“Why am I anywhere?” Spike asks. Parker is pretty sure that’s a rhetorical question.

Wesley sighs. “Sorry if he’s been bothering you,” he says to Parker.

“Hey!”

“Oh, that’s fine,” says Parker. She isn’t sure of how strong a smile to give Wesley so she settles on a small one and looks away like she’s shy. It’s worked before.

“Are you in the middle of a query? Mine is somewhat urgent,” Wesley says.

“No, go ahead,” Parker says. She needs to think.

Wesley steps forward. “Files and Records, please tell me about any successful reversals of the human-vampiric transformation process.”

Parker’s eyes widen and it’s all she can do to keep from gaping.

The woman’s eyes flicker, like an old animation movie. They are completely white when she says, “Two successful reversals on record. First is of Patrick Dorian, possessed by the Pockla demon Vasmurth. Vasmurth healed their host body and prevented the transformation from completing. Second is of the vampire Angel, which was undone by a time-fold of 24 hour duration.”

“What?!” Spike yells.

Wesley is a little paler than before but he speaks calmly. “Please tell me more about the second reversal.”

“No further information,” the woman says, and her eyes flick back to having irises and pupils. She smiles at Wesley. “Any additional queries, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce?”

“Queries complete,” Wesley says. “Thank you.”

“I’m Files and Records. It’s my job,” the woman says.

Wesley says to Parker, “All yours.”

She nods to him.

Wesley is standing in the doorway when he turns back. “Which department are you from? I haven’t met everyone yet.” He’s smiling but his eyes are sharp.

Parker says, “Public Relations” at the same time that Spike says, “Secretary pool.”

Smoothly, Parker says, “I just transferred to Public Relations last week.”

“Congratulations,” Wesley says.

“Thank you!” says Parker, smiling.

He steps aside and three armed men come into the room. “Of course, Angel fired everyone in Public Relations last month,” Wesley says, his face staying the same. “So you must be lonely in the office.”

Parker looks at the security guards warily but she doesn’t resist when two of them grab her arms.

“Wait!”

Everyone looks at Spike. Wesley raises his eyebrows.

“You should take her to Angel. Doesn’t he want to meet all the intruders now?”

“He can meet her in the holding cell,” Wesley says.

“But-” Spike says but cuts himself off when Parker glares at him. “Okay.”

Wesley looks from Spike to Parker. “Bring her along with me.”

“I’m coming too!” Spike says.

Wesley sighs. “I expected nothing less.”

***

With the rest of Angel’s team gone to research the problem, Angel and Eliot are left in Angel’s office. Eliot is sitting in front of the enormous desk where Angel laboriously works on a laptop. He wants to be in motion. Wants to be punching somebody. Hardison is in trouble and Eliot is just _sitting_ there.

He remembers how Hardison looked when they found him. All limp and wrong, his neck a bloody wreck. Eliot had seen the blood on his mouth, figured it out fast. He’d been frozen by the impossibility of it. Hardison wasn’t supposed to get hurt. He was supposed to stay behind, stay with the equipment, and stay safe. There was no scenario where vampires ripped a door off the rental Lucille and dragged Hardison out.

Two of them came out of the shadows when the team arrived on the scene, minutes after the attack. Eliot had staked vampires before. He took the first one out before anyone else had even moved. Sophie cried out when the vampire exploded.

The second one was harder, ready for him. He’d taken a ringing blow to the head and she’d cracked one of his ribs before he staked her.

When Eliot turned back, Parker was trying to get Hardison on the coms and Nate was holding onto Sophie like she was the only thing keeping him grounded. Then Eliot and Parker found Hardison in an alley nearby.

They have to find a way to fix him. Eliot doesn’t want to live in a world without Hardison in it.

Angel finally breaks the silence. “So, you and Lindsey aren’t close?”

Eliot shrugs. He and Lindsey disagree about a lot of things but they’ll always be close. They’ve never talked that much about work though.

“But you came to him for help.”

It isn’t a question so Eliot doesn’t bother answering.

Angel is quiet again. He types very slowly, Eliot’s noticing. Even slower than Eliot himself types and his speed is low enough to make Hardison crazy with impatience.

The distinctively shrill ring of Eliot’s phone cuts through the silence.

He answers it at once. “What?”

“What the hell is going on, Eliot?” Nate is pissed. And drunk. Eliot knew he would be but the confirmation still makes his jaw clench.

“I’m working on it,” he growls.

“First you don’t tell me about vampires. And _then_ you and Parker go racing off to-”

“She isn’t there with you?”

Nate is silent for a moment, which is all the confirmation Eliot needs. “She left her phone here,” Nate finally says. “Where are you?”

“I’ll find her,” Eliot says. He can’t lose both of them in one day. He just can’t.

“Eliot-”

Eliot hangs up. His phone immediately rings again and he turns it off.

Angel is watching him. “More trouble?” he asks.

“Maybe,” Eliot says.

“Is Parker one of your teammates?”

Damn vampire hearing. Eliot shrugs.

Angel sighs. “Do you want our help or not?”

“Wanting your help doesn’t mean I’ll tell you everything,” Eliot says.

“How about the Slayer Army? Will you tell me anything about that?”

“Don’t know anything to tell.”

Angel sighs again and shuts the laptop. “Well, this is getting nowhere fast.” He presses several buttons on his desk phone. “Fred? Any progress?”

There’s a muffled click and Fred says, “Nothing yet. Wesley went down to Files and Records. He should be getting back soon. I’m checking the Wolfram & Hart hospital files but it doesn’t look good.”

Angel nods. “Tell him to come see me when…” He trails off and stands up. “Nevermind, he’s here. Thanks, Fred.”

Eliot turns around while he’s standing up. Wesley is coming in, followed by security guards with Parker. Eliot breathes out. She doesn’t acknowledge him, but he can tell she’s watching him for her cue.

Another man walks in and Angel groans. “Go away, Spike.”

Spike grins. “Wouldn’t even if I could. This is all too interesting.” He saunters over to stand next to Angel. “Who’s this, then?” He looks at Eliot.

Angel glares at him and looks expectantly at Wesley.

“She’s an intruder I found in Files and Records. Spike was with her. He said I shouldn’t bring her to you.”

Spike glares at Wesley. “No, I said you _should_. And then I changed my mind. Alice shouldn’t have to meet people like Angel when there’s a perfectly good holding cell ready and waiting.”

“One of yours?” Angel asks Eliot.

Eliot nods. “Let her go.”

Angel gestures at the security guards and they drop Parker’s arms. She gives them dark looks, as they leave the office, and stalks over to Eliot. She stands next to him and crosses her arms, glaring at everyone else in the room.

“It’s okay, Alice,” Eliot says. “They’re going to help.”

She glances at him sideways and nods, getting his message that these people aren’t friends.

Wesley clears his throat. “I did learn-”

Spike interrupts. “I can’t believe I missed Angel being human for a whole day. That would have been something to see.”

Angel looks blank for a second and then his eyes widen. “Oh,” he says, quietly. “I…I had almost forgotten about that.”

Eliot is pissed off. They wasted time looking for an answer that Angel knew all along? “So. What happened?” he asks.

“A demon’s blood mixed with mine and ‘healed’ me into a human,” Angel says. “I asked to be turned back because I couldn’t…work on my redemption like that.”

Wesley is staring at Angel in horror. “You _chose_ to be a vampire again,” he says.

“Wes,” Angel says, “I couldn’t-”

Wesley cuts him off. “You couldn’t be human? What do you think I am? Charles? Fred?” His face hardens. “Cordelia?”

Angel flinches violently. “Wesley,” he says, looking angry now. “I was a liability. I couldn’t fight.”

“You could have _learned_ ,” Wesley says.

“Who would have taught me?” Angel asks. “This was before you joined and before Gunn. It was just me and Cordy and Doyle.”

“Hey!”

Everyone looks at Parker.

“Stop fighting and figure it out,” she says.

“It was a Mohra demon,” says Angel. He taps buttons on his desk phone and says, “Fred? Do we have any Mohra blood in the lab?”

“Uh, I’ll check,” Fred says. A few seconds later, she says, “We do in the hospital stores. There’s a lot, actually.”

“Can you please bring some to my office? A small jar will be fine.”

“Alright, on my way.”

Angel turned back to Eliot. “I can’t promise it will work. If the soul has departed, your teammate probably won’t wake up.”

Eliot nods. “What’s the price?” he asks.

Angel says, “A favour, whenever I need one.”

Eliot nods again. He can feel Parker staring at him. “Agreed,” he says and holds out his hand.

“No conditions? No negotiating?” Angel asks.

“Not for this,” Eliot says and extends his hand further.

Angel takes it. They shake on the deal.

Spike laughs and shakes his head. “You’ve done it now. Old Angelus _always_ cashes in his favours.”

“Shut up, Spike,” Angel says.

Fred walks in with a jam jar-sized opaque container in her hands. “Oh, hi, Spike,” she says, giving him an awkward wave.

“Hey,” Spike says.

Fred gives the container to Angel. “We’ll never even miss it,” she says. “There’s about nine more pints in storage.” She looks at Parker and smiles awkwardly. Parker doesn’t take her eyes off the container.

“Well, then it should be free of charge,” Wesley says, coolly. “Less than an hour of research and supplies we can clearly spare? One of the least troublesome cases we’ve ever had.”

Angel sighs. “Wesley…”

Eliot considers just grabbing the cure and running for the exit. He knows Parker is ready to spring into action. “We’d better get going,” he says, and holds out his hand for the container of demon’s blood.

Angel gives it to him. “I don’t suppose there’s an easy way to contact you?”

Eliot flips a business card out of his pocket and into the air. Angel catches it one-handed.

Angel looks at the card. “Leverage Consulting? Seriously?” He glances up at Eliot. “You don’t look like consultants.”

Parker counters, “You don’t look like a lawyer.”

Spike starts laughing again.

“How about I show you folks out?” Fred says, brightly, her Texas accent stronger than before.

Eliot smiles at her. “Thank you,” he says.

He and Parker follow Fred out of the office. Wesley catches up with them at the elevator. “Here,” he says, holding out a business card to Eliot. “If anything goes wrong, call. I have a contact who can reinstate souls, if necessary.”

Eliot never wants to know how _that’s_ done. He takes the card. “Thanks,” he says, nudging Parker into the elevator. The doors close on Wesley’s wave of acknowledgment.

Fred clears her throat. “I hope you’ll call us if it works too.” She smiles. “Always nice to have some good news around here.”

“If it doesn’t work, we’ll be back,” Parker says. Her voice is as cold as winter in the desert.

“Good,” Fred says.

“No,” says Parker. “You don’t want us to come back.”

Fred starts stammering as the doors open. They leave her to it.

***

They walk across the lobby and out of the building. Then both Eliot and Parker start running at the same time.

“Mine’s faster,” Parker says and they run down the block to the stolen car. It’s a Bugatti.

Parker jumps in the driver’s seat and guns the motor as soon as Eliot’s door is closed. She mostly keeps her eyes on the road but she notices that he’s making the pain face that means he has damaged ribs or minor gunshot wounds. Running always makes those worse.

They get to the hotel in record time.

When both of them burst in through the door to the suite, Sophie jumps up, one hand on her mouth. Her face is streaked with make-up from crying and her clothes seem crumpled somehow. It makes Parker upset to see Sophie like that, when it’s real.

Eliot strides past Sophie like he doesn’t see her. Hardison is on the bed in the next room of the suite. Nate is slumped in a chair beside him.

“What happened?” Sophie asks, her voice strained.

“Eliot got the cure,” Parker says.

Sophie’s eyes widen but Parker doesn’t want to explain yet. She goes to the doorway of Hardison’s room.

Nate is watching Eliot but he hasn’t moved from the chair. That’s a bad sign, Parker knows. A still Nate is an angry Nate.

Eliot is kneeling by the opposite side of the bed from Nate, opening the container. He tosses the lid behind him. Then he leans over and pours the demon’s blood into the wound on Hardison’s neck. The blood is bright green and glows in the dim light of the room. Nothing happens for a split second, just long enough for Parker to see Eliot close his eyes and lean his forehead on his folded hands.

Then there’s a blinding flash. Parker lunges forward, without thinking. She lands partly on the bed as Hardison sits up fast, gasping. His eyes are wild and his mouth is open. He looks like he is waking up from the worst nightmare ever.

Hardison’s hands are shaking so Parker leans over and grabs one. Eliot takes Hardison’s other hand at the same moment. There’s a shock like a completed circuit, so fast it’s gone almost before she feels it.

Someone turns on the overhead light. Hardison blinks, still gasping. His eyes focus and he sees Eliot and Parker. He closes his mouth and she can hear him swallowing, trying to get ready to talk.

“You’re okay,” she tells Hardison. “Breathe with me. In… and out.” Parker shows him the slow breaths he needs to calm down. She hears Eliot breathing the pattern too, helping.

Hardison’s heart is beating hard. Parker can feel it in his hand. She squeezes it once and Hardison squeezes back.

“What… happened?” Hardison asks, after some more breathing.

“Something we’d all like to know,” says Nate, mildly.

Parker looks over and Sophie is sitting on the floor beside Nate’s chair with her head leaning against his knee. He is smoothing her hair.

Nate tilts his head at Parker, inviting her to start explaining. Parker looks at Eliot. Both of them don’t like explaining but Eliot knows more about this than she does.

Eliot sighs. “You got bit by a vampire,” he tells Hardison.

Hardison stares at him. “I thought that was… that was real?” He looks at Parker and she nods.

“They wanted to turn you,” Eliot says. When Hardison looks blank, Eliot clarifies, “Into a vampire.”

“But Eliot got the cure so now you’re okay,” Parker says, all in a rush because Hardison is breathing too fast again.

“I was… dead?” Hardison asks, like he doesn’t want to know the answer.

“Not really,” says Eliot as the same time that Parker says, “I thought you were.”

“Very convincingly,” Sophie says, sitting up. “How are you feeling now?”

Hardison moves his right hand, the one Eliot is still holding. Eliot lets go at once.

Hardison touches his neck, where the wound was. It’s gone without a trace. “Weird,” he says, finally.

“Does it hurt?” Parker asks.

Hardison shakes his head. “Nothing hurts.”

“Good,” says Nate, standing up. “Eliot, can I see you in the other room, please?”

“Why?” Parker asks.

Eliot stands up too.

Nate says, “Because I need to ask him some questions.”

Sophie sighs and gets to her feet. “We’ve all been through a lot tonight. Can we save the yelling for tomorrow and just have the facts now?” 

Nate crosses his arms and raises his eyebrows at Eliot.

Eliot says, “There’s lots of supernatural stuff that it’s better not to know about. That’s why I didn’t tell you.” He’s standing really stiffly and only looking at Nate. “Vampires need blood to survive. They burn in sunlight or with holy water. If you stake the heart, they explode into dust. They’re fast and deadly but they used to be human so they can be stupid.”

“That’s all very interesting,” Nate says, “But what I want to know is: where did you get the cure?”

“And why didn’t you tell us that’s what you were doing?” Sophie adds.

“I didn’t know if it would work,” Eliot says, looking at Hardison. Parker squeezes his hand again.

Eliot continues, “I got it from a vampire I’ve heard of. He is supposed to be a vigilante fighter against evil or something, but he’s gone corporate.”

“Corporate vampires,” Nate says slowly.

“Can’t be worse than Congress,” Sophie says.

“Hold up,” Hardison says, “Are you saying that you just walked in and a guy you don’t even know just _gave_ you the cure for being dead via pointy teeth?”

Parker jumps in. “They said to call them to say whether it worked or not.”

Hardison stares at both Parker and Eliot. “You gave me an _untested_ cure for vampirism? What even was that stuff?”

Parker says, “It wasn’t untested!” just before Eliot says, “You don’t wanna know.”

“I do very much want to know!”

“Dammit, Hardison!”

“Okay!” Nate says, loudly, and they all look at him. “So, in the interest of saving the yelling for tomorrow,” he nods at Sophie who smiles, “I’m going to say that we’re glad you are, uh, ‘cured’, Hardison.” Nate clears his throat. “And Eliot, Parker,” he says, looking at them, “We are going to talk about this tomorrow. At length. But the short version is that you should keep me informed.”

“Us!” says Sophie, indignantly, “Us informed.” She stares at Nate then throws up her hands. “Unbelievable!” She walks over and pats Hardison’s back. “Call if you need anything,” she says, in her ‘taking care of people’ voice.

“Sure,” says Hardison, sounding like he probably won’t.

Sophie squeezes Parker’s shoulder and walks quickly out of the room.

Nate slowly looks at Hardison, Parker, and then Eliot. “Tomorrow,” he promises, and leaves the room too.

The three of them look at each other. “Roof?” asks Parker.

***

Hardison is pretty steady on his feet, considering, but both Parker and Eliot stick close to him on the way to the roof, just in case.

“I’m okay,” Hardison says, as Parker picks the lock on the door to the roof and Eliot pushes it open.

“Now,” is all Eliot says, and Parker’s insides twist up at the emotion in his voice.

She touches Hardison, to reassure herself that he’s warm and alive. He smiles at her. Parker smiles back and tugs him onto the roof.

It’s dark out there but a friendly kind of dark, with the lights from the other buildings spread out all around them like galaxies.

“We don’t have to go near the edge, right?” Hardison says.

It’s almost too dark to see expressions so Parker pats his shoulder. “We don’t.”

“So, Parker, why are we up here?” Eliot asks. He’s ahead of them. She can see his outline.

“It’s easier to talk,” Parker says, though, really, she hadn’t been thinking of that when she suggested the roof. Hardison had been dead in that room. She never wants to go in it again.

“Okay,” says Eliot.

Parker walks over to him. She wants to say this right. “It wasn’t your fault,” she says.

Hardison inhales sharply.

“It’s my job,” Eliot says, simply.

“Eliot, man, there is _no way-_ ” Hardison starts but Eliot cuts him off.

“I knew there are vampire gangs in L.A. I knew you parked the van in a bad neighbourhood.”

“You _told_ me about the bad neighbourhood, remember? This morning. It’s not your fault that I was too excited about the job to listen.”

Eliot doesn’t say anything back.

Parker asks, “What kind of favour are you going to do?”

Hardison asks, “What?”

“What kind?” Parker asks again.

“Whatever it takes,” Eliot says finally.

“Payment,” Hardison says, his voice flat.

“Spike told me Wolfram & Hart is full of evil lawyers and he’s a vampire-ghost so he knows evil.”

“Wolfram & Hart? They are, like, international scumbags. You owe _them_ a favour now?”

“I know!” Eliot shouts. “I know they’re evil and I know it’s gonna be bad. I can handle it, alright?”

“You don’t have to handle it by yourself,” Parker says. That’s what she wants Eliot to know the most. He’s like her. Sometimes, he forgets that he has a team now.

“I’m not gonna-” Eliot starts to say but Hardison cuts him off.

“Parker’s right. We’re a team. More than a team.”

She can hear Hardison walking toward Eliot while he’s talking. Eliot stays still.

“Thanks for saving me,” Hardison says.

Parker hears more than sees their special hand-slap fist-bump. She’s pretty sure it turns into a hug.

“Hey girl, you too, c’mere,” Hardison says.

Parker grins and joins them. Hardison hugs her and she hugs him back, as hard as she did after the mountain. She’ll never let Hardison die alone again.

After a minute, Eliot clears his throat. Parker lets go with one arm and grabs him, pulling him into the hug. Hardison helps, once he figures out what she’s doing.

Eliot is tense but he doesn’t try to get away from them. Parker nudges him with her hip. “Hug us,” she says.

So he does. All three of them are in a little hugging circle on the roof, and Parker _knows_ that this is the way they are supposed to be.

Hardison lets out a big sigh and Parker feels Eliot relax even more.

After a long time, so long their breathing matches, they all pull back and let go of each other.

Hardison says, “I’m really tired all of a sudden.”

“Blood loss, maybe,” says Eliot.

“Can we stay together?” Parker asks.

“What do you mean?” Eliot asks, and for once, he doesn’t sound grumpy about it.

Parker shrugs, even though they probably can’t see it. The right words aren’t appearing in her mind.

“I can’t say that I’m in a rush to get back to the suite,” Hardison says.

“You just said you were tired,” Eliot says.

“Tired like I should get some soda or coffee, not tired like I should go try to sleep where… where the walls are thin and Nate and Sophie are probably-”

“Alright, we get it,” says Eliot, cutting him off.

“Do they usually have sex when we get a suite?” Parker asks, curious. “I mostly sleep in a room of my own on a different floor.” She snaps her fingers. “We should go there!”

“Why a different floor?” Hardison asks, as they start down the stairs from the roof.

“So I can climb back and forth,” Parker says. “Hotel ceilings aren’t tall enough for climbing otherwise, except sometimes in the lobby. But lobby climbing isn’t very sneaky.”

“Okay, cool,” says Hardison, nodding. Parker feels a burst of affection for him for just accepting this kind of thing now.

They arrive at Parker’s room and settle in. Eliot calls room service to get a late dinner sent up. Hardison turns on the television and all three of them bicker about what to watch. After the food comes, Hardison declares that it is _his_ turn to pick and he picks a nature documentary about dolphins.

Parker gets a text from Sophie, after they’ve finished eating, on one of her burner phones. Her official smart phone is still in the suite somewhere.

 _all well?_ Sophie asks.

 _we will come back in the morning,_ Parker texts back. _e and h and me._

 _see you,_ Sophie replies.

“Sophie says hi,” she tells the boys.

“It’s probably safe to go back then,” says Eliot.

“I wanna finish this,” says Hardison, eyes on the screen.

He falls asleep soon after. Parker looks at Eliot and he’s looking at her. They silently agree to let Hardison sleep.

Parker curls up next to him on the bed, close but not touching. Eliot sits in the chair, where he can see the door, the window, and them.

After a while, Parker rolls over. “There’s room for you,” she tells Eliot quietly.

He nods. “I’ll keep watch a little while,” he says, just as soft.

Parker smiles at him and closes her eyes.


End file.
